Hispano-Suiza

Swiss, Spanish and French DNA intertwine in Hispano-Suiza's symbols

Feature Article from Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car

Hispano-Suiza, fairly obviously, translates to "Spanish-Swiss," and that's what carries through to Hispano-Suiza's badge, located on the radiator shell of these world-famous cars. The mixed nationality is a bit misleading since the cars were actually built in Barcelona. And France. Confused yet?

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The company's history is this: Hispano-Suiza was founded at the dawn of the 20th century. Marc Birkigt was a Swiss engineering genius, and after several failed attempts at building a car company, Birkigt was supported by Spanish financier Don Damien Mateu, who created Fabrica La Hispano-Suiza de Automovils, with Birkigt the "Suiza" component of the moniker. Production was on a microscopic scale at the time, until King Alfonso XIII ordered several as a means of supporting the fledgling brand, and enticing young Spaniards to race under the banner. The early success of the company propelled Birkigt to the level of an Ettore Bugatti or a Henry Royce.
The car's emblem is evocative of that dual citizenship. The emblem's background features a wheel at the center, flanked by outstretched silver wings. The emblem's field is made up of the Spanish red-yellow-red flag at the top, and the Swiss white cross-on-red flag at the bottom of a cloisonné badge.
French history is intertwined, as well, in both the badge and the car's even more famous radiator mascot. In order to meet the increased European demand for the Hispano-Suiza, the company opened a factory in France in 1911, where it built cars until the opening salvos of World War II in 1938, when production was shifted to aircraft manufacture. The radiator mascot is a depiction of a swan in flight sculpted by Francois Victor Bazin, working from a model by a test engineer at the Paris factory. The design was meant to honor the pilot Georges Guynemer, the French "Ace of Aces," whose Hispano-Suiza-powered Vieux Charles wore a similar stork in flight as a good luck charm.

This article originally appeared in the October, 2010 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.